Ranau: The KadazanDusun Cultural Association (KDCA) is determined to develop Nunuk Ragang, located in Kampung Tompios in the Paginatan, constituency here, as one of the prime tourist destinations in Ranau.

It also plans to make the Nunuk Ragang Moginakan Festival celebrated in this heritage monument every year as "annual pilgrimage" for Kadazandusun to celebrate and further strengthen their unity as a great race.

The Huguan Siou (paramount leader) Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who is also KDCA President, expressed this in his speech at the 19th Moginakan Nunuk Ragang Day-cum 32nd anniversary of his conferment as Huguan Siou at the Nunuk Ragang heritage monument on Saturday.

"Naturally we want to develop this heritage area as another stopover or a "One-Stop-Centre" according to the uniqueness and diversity values of the KadazanDusun culture. But at the moment KDCA is still managing the land ownership of this site.

Pairin, who is also Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Development infrastructure, urged the younger generation of KadazanDusuns to participate more actively in cultural associations and community.

"Most importantly, I urge that the younger generation to register as members of KDCA so that together we can preserve the customs and values of the KadazanDusun, so they do not disappear.

"We are a strong race so there is no need to go about finding an identity for ourselves because the pursue of another identity will to cause confusion and bickering among ourselves, as this will block and deflect us in order to build together and move forward.

"What is important in our review into the future is our determination as a race which depending highly on the integrity of our union, in one accord as 1Kadazandusun," he said, apparently, referring to current moves by many indigenous NGOs to classify all Sabah Natives under the umbrella of Momogun. KDCA is opposed to it.

Kota Kinabalu: The Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA) will be scouring all the districts in the State for suitable students who would like to further their studies at RENG College.

Its President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said apart from having a good academic ability and outstanding achievement, the students must also have deep interest in specialised courses.

In a press conference after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the college and KDCA on Wednesday, Pairin said the college has agreed to provide half scholarships to 10 students and one full scholarship to a selected student.

"KDCA has 603 branches throughout the State and we are never short of KDM students to be given scholarships.

We want our students to excel academically especially in the specialised courses because this is where the job market is now," he said.

He said KDCA is always in the pursuit of ensuring its people continue to have better education.

Of course, he added, not everybody has the opportunity to continue their studies if they did not fulfil some criteria required by universities and colleges.

"Sometimes, it is not that the students are lacking in terms of intelligence. But due to lack of assistance, guidance and encouragement, they are left behind.

Although they did not score so well, they must not stop their education.

"In this collaboration between KDCA and RENG College, both sides recognise the situation and we try to work out a system of providing assistance to these students by giving them scholarship and encourage them to stay in the course," he said.

Pairin said the MoU is only one of KDCA's ways of empowering the people and the association will continue to explore other opportunities especially education opportunities as it is important that the people are equipped with knowledge if they want to compete and succeed in this challenging world.

He said priority will be given to students who come from poor families.

The scholarships come in the form of cash of fee waivers to help students pay for living expenses.

According to the MoU, every term KDCA will nominate 11 students to RENG College who will then provide them with the Academic Merit Scholarships.

RENG College representative Datin Annie Eng said Sabahan students do not have a strong command of English as they are so used to speaking Malay in schools and in their daily conversation.

"However, we found that they are very good in hands-on courses.

That is why we approached KDCA for this programme. Many students are left behind academically because of their family background but we want to give them this opportunity for those who are interested," she said. Eng also assured that students who graduated from the college will be guaranteed employment because the college is backed up by their industrial partners who prefer to employ RENG College graduates.

The college has three main schools namely the Built Environment offering Architecture and Interior Design, Technology and Design offering Technology and Design, Multimedia Design, Game Design and Digital Animation and Business and Accountancy offering Business Management and Accountancy.